My flight home was cancelled two minutes before it was
supposed to depart and I had to wait at the airport for another three hours.
When I arrived at Terminal 1, I checked in my 23.1 kg of
luggage (packing genius) carried my 12 kg of hand carry and waited at the gate.
When the boarding time passed we all knew something was up. The flight attendant informed us that the aircraft had technical issues and an engineer was looking
at the problem. Everyone was fine. Twenty minutes later she told us that unfortunately
our flight was cancelled because the plane was unsuitable to fly. No one said
anything. She then announced that there weren’t any planes available but they
were doing their best to find a new aircraft. A few people shuffled in their
seats.
A couple of flight attendants came around and gave us a complimentary
newspaper and a little bottle of water to tide us over. I just sat there kind
of giggling in my head, because I was strangely okay about everything. As if on
cue, the flight attendant said there was a plane available later that day and as
I got up she announced that we were entitled to a $15 food voucher (happy!) I left
the gate, did a few laps around the food court trying to get the best value for
money. In the end I decided to splurge and get a giant bag of prawn crackers
with my lunch. As I handed over my ticket, the guy serving me said I still an
extra $5 to spend (bonus!) I grabbed some water, my lunch and munched on the
prawn crackers. At least for the time being I could eat.
I was very proud of myself that I didn’t get mad; in fact
it was very weird that no one was really annoyed. Perhaps I just wasn’t aware
of other people’s negative vibes because I felt very Zen and not bothered one
bit. As I smiled at my relaxed state, I got a text asking if I wanted a little save
and go in the Qantas lounge. I said hells yeah and went and relaxed even more.
The day could have been a lot worse if I sulked or ask why
did this happen to me? Instead I asked myself three questions:
- Am I hungry?
- Am I uncomfortable?
- Am I thirsty?
Usually once I answer the first one it’s all peaches
because I switch to an evil monster when I’m the slightest bit hungry. So in
the future, whenever I get almost
bothered about something, I have to ask myself three questions and do something
about what I can actually control. Of course the comfort of a couch, warm food and
refreshing drinks, doesn’t hurt one bit either.
Finding Intention 